New Ulm weekly review., 1887-03-30
MORBID IMPULSES.
Tho Fatal Fascination Of Sudden Thong

themselves over, says a writer IN the.
Detroit Free Press. This is, perhaps,
the commonest instance of a morbid
impulse. Yet there is in the term a.
significance, a breadth OF suggestion,
which must relate back to the expe-
rience, of every man and woman, and
explain feelings which have at the time
seemed odd beyond explanation, feel
lngs which have often led an innocent,
self-respecting individual to the very
verge OF an atrocity which would have,
made OF him a criminal.
Morbid impulse may be criminal or
humorous. The humorous, no doubt,
when executed, often carry their per-
petrator to the commission of assault
and battery, at least. That the Grim
lnal impulses ofthis kind are responsi
BILE for a large proportion OF ofenses
against criminal laws no one acqualnt-.
ed with that line of defense known as,
emotional insanity can for a moment.
doubt. And the very vital interest
attaching to all such cases depends in
a large degree on the hazy and almost
1ndetinable causes and surroundings
which are involved in the considera-
tlon of morbid impulses.
History records notable instances
1t was, perhaps, more than anything
else, due to a morbid impulse that Ne
70 struck off the head of that Roman
artisan who came to him with a beaten
glass cup in his hand and affirmed
that the secret of making glass MALE
able had yielded to his patient inves-
tlgation. The historians who mention
the hitherto irreparable loss civiliza-
tion has sustained bv the failure to
perpetuate this wonderful invention,
ascribe Nero's act to fear lest the
precious metals should be superseded.
But to student of this fascinating
subject there can be no doubt that
Nero fell an instantaneous victim to a,
morbid impulse to crush out at one
blow this marvellous discovery. It
seems, indeed, q relief to find so human
an impulse in the nature of a creature
who was so inhuman as to fiddle when
the greatest city of the world was
burning.
Railings are built securely around
the tops of all the tallest towers in
the world to prevent involuntary SUI
lcldes. The subject of morbid I'M
pulse loses at once all regard for con-
sequenses. Whether the indulgence Of
the craving so suddenly born will put
an end to his own life, even, or infiict
a dangerous or fatal injury on some
other, perhaps friend or loved one,
is immaterial.
Maitre Jehan LIE Doux was one of
the most famous advocates in France
during the fifteenth century It is re-
lated OF him that he was retained to
defend a. sailor accused of having
murdered q shipmate. On the day Of
the trial the court room was crowded.
Maitre Jehan's eloquence held all
present entranced. There was hush
OF rapt attention as he described the
Incidents of the alleged crime and re-
lated Incidents, which to the general
mind, seem to indicate conclusively
his clients innocence. All at once in
the most impassioned flight of his ar
gument, he paused and, turning to the ;:
tribunal, cried out:
"And still, with all that, this wretch
is guilty, guilty, guilty! He has con-
fessed it to me, he has described the
crime; he is worthy of the most sum-
mary punishment"
And then Maitre Jehan sat down,
apparently overcome. History has
not handed down the effect OF this ex-~
traordinary scene on those present.
1t is thought by some that many of
the instances recorded in the daily
papers of fatal wounds inflicted by
weapons in the hands of persons who
"didn't know they were loaded" NAV
be explained on the theory of morbid
impulses. The Irishman at Donny-
brook fair who hit every bare pate he
saw was moved first Of all by a NOR
bid impulse. There is something dew
ilish in the disposition of many if not s
most human beings, which may never
crop out, never come to be realized in
the domain of their consciousness,
but which may seize on them with a..
force apparently superhuman at some
critical moment, when, weapon in
hand, perhaps in sport, human life
is put suddenly in the balance, and a..
MOI bid impulse weighs down the fatal
scale.
It is undoubtedly morbid impulse
which prompts one to laugh consum-
edly at the fall OF a. stranger on the
icy pavement. There is nothing in it.
self amusing in a fall, which may in Z
fict great injury. But a laugh on a.
public thoroughfare is generally its
attendant.
People riding in railroad cars are not
infrequently smitten by morbid im-
pulses to knock the hats off people on
the station platform as the train pass
,es. People calling on parvenu are
often tempted to shrek out in his
crowded drawino.rOOm that he made
his millions pigsticking. People in a
public assemblage are Familiarity re-
minded of the man who shrieked just
to break the stiffness when Patti rest
ed so long on high &C." Every man
may have, and most people do have,
morbid impulses. The we'll disciplined
man dosen't yeild to, and is often not
conscious OF, them.
An Old Story in New Dress.